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Cosi by Louis Nowra
Directed by Kris Weber
Reviewed by John Gunn for 3CR's curtain Up 29/8/02
It has been some time since I have seen a production of Louis Nowra's play Cosi which is about Lewis, a university student who takes on the position of directing a production for mentally disturbed patients of a psychiatric hospital - it is 1971, Uni students were gearing up for anti-Vietnam marches and there was much less understanding of mental illness then, than there is today.
Lewis thinks that perhaps a short work by Bertolt Brecht (which he knows) will be the ideal choice for production until he meets long term patient Roy who has a passion for Mozart and wants to stage the opera Cosi Fan Tutte. Great, Lewis knows nothing of opera and the patients or inmates can't sing let alone speak Italian. What results is a warm, funny and sad tale of how Lewis comes to understand and appreciate this group of people and how they, to an extent, change some aspects of his life and his way of thinking.
STAG's production under the direction of Kris Weber is a warm and satisfying experience that gives us lots to think about, yes there were some faults and occasionally the pace did seem to lag, however it is quite a long play which can put demands on both actor and audience; now almost 20 years on since it was first produced professionally, dare I say it could do with a prune to tighten it up. Whilst the main roles were very well characterized with good body language and overall vocal and physical energy was strong, this energy must be managed or disciplined to deliver the text in the best way possible.
Dialogue could have been a little more pointed or refined in that sometimes a key point or sentence was rushed or not given its best value. Tighter or balanced controls give greater contrast to both the dramatic and comedy elements in the text. Remember an audience is usually seeing and hearing the play for the first time. The drug controlling of patients, their fragile emotions and backgrounds, particularly the pyromania and its timing, the young protestors' contempt of the inmates and their passion for their own interests...it is all important content that should be conveyed to the audience, particularly as many of these issues are still with us today, some 30 years on.
If I appear to be nitpicking it is because I believe that the production was of a standard worthy of being examined more closely. The cast was a cohesive ensemble, Ben Dyson as Lewis had a good understanding of his character, gave the role credibility and we felt for him as he was confronted by one issue and behavioural problem after another: as the opera fanatic Roy, Robert Urban made a good fist of this passionate and disturbed man, and this is one of the better interpretations of the role that I have seen and I have viewed approximately 5 productions of this play.
Heidi Raouf as the sex starved Cherry (with her face saying so much) was funny and appealing, this well-written role never fails. I was impressed with the work of Emma Fisher as Julie the young junkie destined for tragedy, this was perhaps the best interpretation of this character that I have seen on the local theatre scene - never upstaging or over doing it but quietly twitching away, never really still.
Peter Prenga as 'Go Burn a Cat' Doug gave a well-crafted and colourful reading of this role but perhaps could have investigated just a little more of the menace. Leanne Conn as Ruth with her extreme compulsive disorder worked hard and achieved much with this complicated character. Mark McHugh as the sad and lonely Henry gave one of the best character performances that I have seen from this actor, again like the junkie Julie, achieving so much by stillness.
In the roles of Justin/Nick/Zac, David Young (with appropriate piano-accordion skills) worked hard but needed a little clearer delineation between these 3 roles - I wonder now if the role of the social worker could have been played by a woman, thereby allowing a male actor to play and extend just 2 roles (particularly Nick the Vietnam protestor), instead of 3.
In the underwritten role of Lucy, girlfriend of Lewis, lover of Nick, Louise Kelpie could have done with a little more directorial assistance in lifting this one dimensional character off the page.
The setting of a burnt out theatre in the grounds of a Mental Institution was appropriate with good costumes, props and effects although lighting was a little on the gloomy side.
However to sum up, a very worthy production, directed with care by Kris Weber. STAG should be very pleased with the final results. Thursday night's audience went away well satisfied and so did I.
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